


A Man's Compassion

by tritoanminhdang



Category: No Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-11-15 11:25:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18072551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tritoanminhdang/pseuds/tritoanminhdang
Summary: Gabriel and Aidan were hanging out and drinking coffee on Bui Vien walking street when Gabriel noticed two young street vendors. Being a kind and generous man, Gabriel didn't hesitate to help the children, much to Aidan's dismay.But hey, that was just Aidan-the-native being paranoid, right? What could possibly go wrong?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first story written in English, as English is not my native language. I hope this cross-cultural piece would raise both awareness and enjoyment for readers.

The first time Gabriel Villanueva saw the children – ragged, skinny and fatigued, a small basket at the front and a trolley by their sides – he almost dropped the coffee glass on his laptop. He carefully put it down, then poked an elbow at Aidan Pham, his best friend.

"What?"

"Dude," Gabriel said, pointing. "Two o'clock."

They sat together in a vintage café that was crowded with both natives and foreigners. To avoid distractions, the two college students had chosen to sit in the farthest corner, right next to a dusty bookshelf stacked with novels from the Vietnam War, their long legs cramped into tiny wooden chairs and an equally tiny wooden table.

"Wow, strange, for a central business district." Aidan murmured, taking a quick glance at the young vendors. Then he shrugged. "Oh well, it's Vietnam. Anything can happen here, really."

Gabriel stared at Aidan for five seconds, disturbed by the statement. To him, the offhand remark sounded like a personal insult. He'd stopped typing the outline for his senior thesis, and obseved the street children as he drank the rest of his phin-filtered coffee.

The street vendor slowly approached their table. The dark-skinned boy looked so young, around eight, and so tiny, like a kitten, that all Gabriel wanted to do was to hold him close and protect him at all cost. He was wearing a faded cap, an old flannel shirt three sizes bigger than his thin frame, and flip-flops.

The image was all-too-familiar.

Gabriel let his mind wander back to those six horrendous months on the streets of Lawrence, Massachusetts. He was eleven, and mamá had lost her well-paid job during the great economic recession. Soon enough, they had to move out of their apartment, but the homeless shelters weren't available at that time. After all, hundreds of people were just like them. Street corners became their new home. Gabriel tried not to skip school to help his mother, because he'd known, too well, that people were more likely to give their money to a hungry, miserable child.

Gabriel blinked twice at the blank laptop screen, snapping himself out of those unpleasant memories as the kid silently offered them a pack of chewing gums.

"Hey," Gabriel smiled. "How much is it?"

The boy showed them his palms, all ten dirty fingers.

"Ah, ten thousands dong." Gabriel looked to Aidan, who said, "That's about fifty cents."

Gabriel glanced at the box. He looked at the kid's exhausted face, then the remaining money in his wallet. He pulled out a two-hundred-thousand dong.

"Gabby!" Aidan said. "Don't do that!"

"Why not? You're rich. I'm rich. In fact, everything in this freakin' area is made of money." He jabbed two fingers at the drinks. "These two alone have already cost us more than one hundred thousand. Stop being so stingy, man!"

"I know! Just...don't, okay?"

Before Aidan could snatch the money back, Gabriel had handed it to the boy and scooped up a handful of gums. He didn't care how many packs he'd taken. The vendor clutched the money and gave Gabriel a shy smile.

"What's your name, kid?" Gabriel asked. "Where are your parents?"

Again, Aidan became the reluctant translator. He spoke slowly in Vietnamese to the boy, then in English to Gabriel. "His name is Y Lăng Byă. He said his mother was very ill, living up there with his grandma, in the highland of Đăk Lăk, and his father's dead. The girl over there is his sister, H'Glen Niê."

"Oh." Gabriel was speechless. "Okay."

Aidan casually conversed in Vietnamese. His friend considered for a moment before translating back. "H'Glen makes very good taffy," he said. "With peanuts. You want one?"

"How much?"

"Don't worry. It's free."

"Alright, two taffies please." 

When the boy had gone out to his big sister, who had also been selling more taffy to customers at the front, Gabriel turned to his friend. Aidan had laced his fingers together and placed them under his chin. His brow furrowed in frustration, like he was digging at something in the back of his brain. Something like a distant memory.

"So," Gabriel said, "what's the story?"

Aidan averted his gaze. "There's no story."

"Bullshit." Gabriel rolled his eyes. Aidan was a very, very bad liar. "There must be a reason why you're being an asshole to the kid, so spill!"

"I'm not...look, this whole thing seems a bit fishy, like an act, ya know, from the manners, the costumes, to the sobbing backstory–"

"An act? What is wrong with you?"

"It's just my gut telling me that there's something wrong with those kids!"

"Yeah, something's wrong," Gabriel said. "Do you know every year how many street children are subject to abuse, neglect and exploitation? Or worse, in Latin America, they are brutally murdered by those 'clean-up squads'–"

Two taffy bars appeared, effectively cutting off his ranting. Gabriel gently took the white candy bar in his hand. It wasn't the one that was full of artificial flavors and colorings and wrapped in fancy wax paper. This was the type hand-made from pure white cane sugar, soft, flexible and cylindrical, about four to five inches long, the inside stuffed with crunchy roasted peanuts.

It reminded Gabriel of something rustic. Simple and pleasant.

Aidan also took a bite. "This is really good. It's been so long since I ate this. Fourteen years, to be exact."

Y Lăng bowed his head in gratitude and murmured something. Even though Gabriel couldn't understand a word being said, his heart still melted at the sight. He couldn't comprehend how these poor children survived one night to the next in this restless city, all by themselves, on the streets, with their livelihoods depended on the mercy of others. How gritty they were, how amazingly adaptable. He'd only been here for a week – a mere suggestion from his research professor in Asian Studies to gather information and first-hand experience for his thesis – but the hustle and bustle of Saigon was starting to get overwhelming. Urban life was draining and dehumanizing. Gabriel knew that without his mother, he would have frozen to death on one of those street corners in Lawrence.

As Gabriel was still deep in thought, Aidan abruptly grabbed the boy's wrist, so fierce that Y Lăng flinched, eyes widened in panic. It was odd that his nerd of a friend became so violent. Aidan asked something. The boy answered. He asked more questions, voice deepened, and the boy stuttered in response.

"Dan, what are you doing?" Gabriel whispered. He desperately reached out to free the trembling boy and accidentally smashed his coffee glass, which also brought some unwanted attention and disapproving looks. Despite Gabriel's best effort to extricate Aidan's fingers from the boy's arm, his friend still refused to let go. In fact, Aidan tightened the hold, eyes squinting behind his thick pair of glasses. 

"Dude!" Gabriel's voice shook. "Let him go!"

Eventually, Y Lăng managed to escape from Aidan's iron grasp and sprinted out of the café. He ducked his head at his sister's gentle scolding, and the two figures slipped into the flow of pedestrians on Bui Vien walking street.

"What was that all about?" Gabriel asked.

Aidan calmly pushed his glasses up and continued with his smoothie. "Just, you know, confirming my suspicion."

"Suspicion of what?"

"They don't live by themselves, but with other kids. He said no adults watched over them, but I highly doubt that."

"Huh?"

"Like I said, Gabby, it's nothing. Seriously, the more you know, the more miserable you'll be. Ignorance is bliss." Aidan patted his friend's shoulder, smiling faintly. "Oh, and by the way, don't eat the gums. They're fake."


	2. Chapter 2

The second time Gabriel spotted the street siblings, it was a rainy Saturday night. Aidan and he were crouching and huddling next to a plastic table set right on the busy street, under a pub's roof, but not entirely sheltered from the heavy rain. After a long and arduous week of research in the National University's library, they (but mostly Gabriel) had decided to take a break, hence their night out at Bui Vien, again.

What Gabriel hadn't anticipated, however, was the shower coming down in buckets that flushed out all the fun. It wasn't surprising for him to be sour and bitter, really, considering how his hair dampened and flattened out on his forehead, his clothes sticky with sweat, or how his Saigon beer had blended with rainwater pouring down incessantly from the canvas.

And Aidan, who was staring into space with a dreamy expression and a slight upward quirk to his lips, wasn't helping either.

"Damn it! Should've sat further inside." Gabriel muttered, hands covering his beer. "This is all your fault, Dan."

"What?" Aidan blinked, turned to Gabriel and raised an eyebrow. "Then who suggested earlier, 'Dan, let's go out and have a beer. No, not in those fancy pubs for foreigners down the street, but the local ones, like, the ones that sell fifteen thousands per can.' Your choice, dude."

Gabriel grunted. Rain in Saigon reminded him of his tía Claudita, who was this difficult, harsh, and unpredictable middle-aged woman. She'd slap Gabriel every time she was upset with mamá, calling them bums and parasites for not having a place to stay. Gabriel despised her, and he disliked the rain. Yet, strangely, Gabriel still found himself green with envy at Aidan, who was able to love it with all his heart. That mushy nerd! The guy welcomed it like an old friend, after spending three consecutive years in Boston. Gabriel remembered back in freshman year at UMass, there had been days he'd found Aidan in their dorm room, curling in layers of blanket and watching the same splash of raindrops on the window panes, his face full of longing and unshed tears. Of course Aidan had covered up with a flimsy excuse, but later he'd confessed to having dearly missed his hometown, Saigon. It'd been his first time abroad, after all. 

"Fine! It's my fault. Let's finish this up so we can–" Gabriel cut himself off. "Dan, it's them."

"Them who?"

"Those kids from last week. They're across the street."

Gabriel stood and waved his arms wildly as he shouted out to the battering rain, "Hey, kids! Y Lăng! We're over here."

"What the hell are you doin'?" Aidan hissed. He stepped on Gabriel's right foot. Hard.

"Ouch! Son of a bitch! What was that for?"

"Would you just...stop doing that!" Aidan demanded. "They're not gonna ask us twice."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means those kids won't approach the same customers twice. It's the–the..."

Gabriel laughed out loud at Aidan's spluttering, now that the siblings had already crossed the street and were standing in front of their table. Gabriel noticed that the sister, H'Glen, looked a bit anxious, glancing back and forth before tentatively stepping into their spaces. She wrapped herself in a cheap nylon rain coat and wore a tattered conical hat, with clunky products – cotton buds, toothpicks, newspapers, and snacks – hanging in front of her small frame. At this rate, Gabriel wasn't sure if she could ever sell the damaged goods. Unlike her brother, who was timid and polite, H'Glen looked like a domestic cat who had been abandoned by the owner for a long period of time, before finding her own place in the wilderness. She wasn't older than twelve, yet her big round eyes looked so old, sunken and tired and full of experience – experience so traumatizing that she'd never tell a soul. She leaned forward, her shoulders slumped, her tiny hands clasped tightly together, shivering from the sudden gust of wind. Gabriel immediately gave her his leather jacket. She declined, much to his disappointment.

Y Lăng wasn't any better. The small boy was holding a wooden rectangular box, this time standing closely behind H'Glen, like he was intimidated simply by Aidan's presence. Gabriel's heart clenched tightly at the sight. He gave Aidan a harsh look.

Now this is all your fault, you heartless asshole! he thought.

"H'Glen asked if we want anything," Aidan said. He blushed and pushed his glasses up his crooked nose.

Gabriel gulped down the rest of his beer and swallowed a burp. He signaled to the waiter. "Tell them that I want 'em to stay and have dinner with us. My treat."

***

Dinner was delicious. Or so Gabriel thought. After two weeks with nothing but Vietnamese food, he wasn't sure if spring rolls, pancakoes and fried beef noodles counted as delicacies, but he was sure the kids loved them, devouring as if it was their last meal. Surprisingly, Aidan didn't touch anything. The guy nursed his beer in silence throughout dinner.

After dinner, Gabriel realized he was craving something sweet.

"Do they still sell the taffy?" he asked.

"No," Aidan answered, gesturing at the young vendors. "See? No trolley this time. The taffies will be hardened and super crunchy in this weather. Very difficult to sell."

"Oh, I see."

When the rain started to die down, Aidan's entire demeanor changed. He nervously glanced around the area – at the encroached sidewalks and lines of motorbikes parking down the street – and squirmed like there was a growing fire underneath his chair. He put his hands in his jeans' pockets, looking for something, then pulling out empty and rubbing his palms against each other, but not because of the cold.

"What are you doing?" Gabriel asked. "What's wrong?"

Aidan didn't answer. He turned to the siblings, this time talking directly to the sister. He whispered and randomly pointed at the traffic and side roads. H'Glen nodded slowly at every question, dark eyes alert and understanding. Gabriel could see Aidan's jaw clenched during the seemingly amicable conversation, and then abruptly, he laughed in Gabriel's direction, a single bark.

Gabriel instantly recognized that bark. Aidan was terrified of something. Or someone.

"I knew it," Aidan said, shaking his head. "I knew this was going to happen. I should've known better. I should've warned you, Gabby. I'm so sorry."

"Just tell me what's happening!"

Aidan's voice trembled. "We're being watched. By someone the children call 'Uncle'. I'll tell you everything, but not here, not now."

"Who's 'Uncle'?"

"Just pretend we're having fun. I'm trying to figure it out."

Again, Gabriel was promptly ignored. Aidan continued to have 'fun' with his own 'interrogation' with H'Glen, and never in his life had Gabriel desperatedly wanted to learn Vietnamese more than in this moment.

Who's "Uncle" anyway? Gabriel wondered. The children's relative? Their landowner? Their chaffeaur? Or worse, their creditor?

And why should we – two grown-ups – watch out for him? Gabriel frowned at Aidan's logic. We can easily kick his ass. Well, not sure about Aidan though. The guy can't even hurt a fly.

"Kids don't go to school, ya know?" Aidan suddenly said. His eyes were now full of anguish. "Wanna go there, but 'Uncle' doesn't allow them, and mom doesn't let 'em. Get to work, or get beaten! They can work up to three shifts per day, at least fifteen hours, and send home two millions dong each month, and that's like, eighty-five dollars."

"Okay, that's enough!" Gabriel slammed the table and stood up. He couldn't deal with it. He just couldn't. "I'm taking them to the police station."

"No, wait, Gabby–"

But Gabriel had already walked to the counter to pay the bill.

When he returned, the siblings were gone.

***

"For Christ's sake, Aidan! You idiota! Why didn't you stop them?"

That night, the two had arrived home – Aidan's condominium – at 11 p.m. sharp. Gabriel had stormed into the living room, keys jingling in hand, and turned around to yell at his friend. Aidan shushed him in fear of waking his parents.

"We might or might not be in grave danger," Aidan whispered. "And I should've told you from the very beginning, but I thought, ya know, we wouldn't meet them again."

Gabriel slumped down the sofa and dried his hair with a towel. Aidan followed suit, reclining on a comfy armchair opposite Gabriel.

"Tell me everything!"

Aidan cleared his throat. "From what I've gathered, those kids are getting caught up in–in...ugh, I don't know what's the word, we Vietnamese call it the illegal act of 'herding' street children. The siblings are one of the ethnic minorities in Đăk Lăk, as you've already known. Their parents are both alive, just illiterate. They were tricked into signing the 'labor contracts' and sent their children to the city, to go to school for half a day and make part-time money. Violation of the contracts, like going back to their hometown, can lead to a huge amount of compensation."

Gabriel let the information sunk in. Everything was starting to make sense now.

"What about the so-called 'Uncle'?"

"Ah, that guy," Aidan said, leaning forward. "He's one of the motorbike taxi guys lurking in the corner and keeping an eye on us. The bastard picks up the kids every day, secures the 'business area' for each children and supplies the products. Most of them are counterfeit goods: lower investments, higher profits. Eventually all the money will be given back to him, and it's the kids' job to make sure they meet his standards."

An awkward silence followed. While Gabriel was trying not to break anything in front of him, Aidan absent-mindedly touched his forehead. A long white scar, stitched like a centipede with its tail curled around his right ear. Gabriel had noticed the scar a long time ago, but Aidan had refused talk about it.

"I'm sorry," Aidan muttered.

"You know we could've...I could've helped them escape those inhumane sons of bitches. I-I could've intervened, you know."

"No, no, Gabby, we need stay out of it!" He stood up, grabbed Gabriel's left shoulder and gave it a light squeeze, in an attempt to calm him down. "Believe me, dealing with those street gangsters, criminals, it never ends well. Gabby, you are a stranger in this strange land, and you don't know how things work over here. You came to research for your thesis about 'Street Culture and Economics', and-and not about 'Street Heroes and Social Evils'!" Aidan slowly shook his head. "I know you just want to help, but you can't save all of them. We just can't, okay?"

Gabriel couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"You know what, Dan? You're a coward." Gabriel shrugged Aidan off and pushed him out of the way. "If you want to stand aside and forget about it, fine. And if you don't want to deal with it, making it your problem, well, then stay right where you are next time we face 'em. Stay right there and let me handle it. Capiché?"


	3. Chapter 3

The third time Gabriel caught sight of the young street vendors, Aidan and he were lining up at the seafood stand, waiting for their stir fried snails with lemongrass and chili. It was nearly 10 p.m., yet the Bui Vien-De Tham-Pham Ngu Lao business area was still loaded with locals and foreigners enjoying their chaotic and boisterous night life.

After that heated conversation three days ago, the two had silently reached a mutual agreement to not speak about the incident. For the next two days, Aidan had announced that he would like to hang out with his old high school friends, conveniently avoiding Gabriel and leaving him to struggle with data translation from Vietnamese to English. Gabriel thought he'd totally deserved the cold shoulder. After all, he should have respected Aidan's opinion on that matter. Finally, on the third day, Gabriel had given up and unceremoniously apologized to Aidan at breakfast, promising to make up with a big dinner at Aidan's all-time-favourite seafood stand.

As Gabriel was waiting patiently next to those huge bowls of fresh and cooked seafood – clams, scallops, cockles, and oysters – and contemplating which beer brand they should drink, he caught Aidan looking to his right and whispering to himself the three magical words: "The street siblings."

Gabriel heard him. He stood on tiptoes and squinted. Two blocks away, behind rows of motorcycles and foreigners chilling on the sidewalks, H'Glen and Y Lăng were wriggling between pubs and touting chewing gums.

"You pay for the snails," Gabriel said. He pulled the money out of his pocket and slipped into Aidan's hand. "I'll take them to the police station."

Aidan grabbed his wrist. "Gabby, no! Don't do this!"

"This is no longer your business. And I can't stand watching them being exploited like this for the rest of their lives!"

"This is too dangerous. The 'Uncle' might be watching us right now."

"Who cares?"

With a swift and skillful turn, he twisted Gabriel's wrist and locked his arm behind his back. Gabriel was amazed at his friend's strength and speed. Back in Boston, apart from the library, he'd only seen Aidan at either the arcade downtown, or the fast food diner one block away from their dorm.

Not martial arts clubs. Absolutely not.

Gabriel went for a back kick, aiming at Aidan's shin. "Let me go, you asshole!" he yelled. "It hurts!" At that moment, Gabriel could finally sympathize with Y Lăng the other day. Aidan's bony grip tightened, and Gabriel felt his right hand going numb.

They were making a scene. A quite dramatic one.

"Okay, so how about this?" Aidan conceded. "We'll continue to watch over them and see what will happen. But if things go south, we'll bolt out of the scene. Got it?"

"Okay, okay. Whatever. Just loosen up, buddy." After being released, Gabriel rubbed his wrist and grimaced.

They paid for the snails and strode across the road to catch up with the children.

"Why are you so scared of this?" Gabriel asked. "You got all the moves, man..."

"No, I'm scared for you, Mr. I'm-So-Righteous!" Aidan replied, eyes still scanning the crowds for the siblings. "My older brother and I were kidnapped once."

Brother? Gabriel thought. Aidan never mentions his brother to me.

Gabriel rummaged through his memory of Aidan, looking for a possible clue. As far as he'd known, Aidan was an only child who was raised in a very wealthy family and silver-spooned all the way to college, but not the snobby rich type of guy. Gabriel liked him and called him hermano once or twice, resulting in Aidan wincing and asking him to stop.

Aidan chuckled bitterly. "Eight-year-old me was scared to death, but I thought I was a hero who could save the day, ya know, like in the comics, and I fought back and planned our own escape, and well, they'd ended up killing him right in front of my eyes, before my parents and the police arrived. They also gave me this scar and a major concussion. I was in coma for two weeks."

"Oh." Gabriel felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"I woke up calling my brother's name," Aidan said. "Over and over. I went mute for six months. I took eight years of martial arts to protect myself and my loved ones." Aidan grabbed Gabriel's shoulders and turned him around. "Gabby, you're the closest person that I have to family over there. I've lost my brother to them once. I-I can't lose you too."

"You won't." Gabriel smiled. The promise felt heavy on his tongue. He turned away before the moment could become too sentimental and they'd lose sight of the children.

For the next two hours, they stalked the street vendors with great precision, while maintaining a safe distance in the dark. Thanks to Aidan's eagle eyes, Gabriel was able to neglect his 'duty' and filled up his stomach with all sorts of junk food, such as mixed rice paper, salad mango shake, and of course, two bottles of beer for him and his buddy. To Gabriel, alcohol was always the best liquid courage. Aidan glanced at Gabriel and the green label of his Saigon Special beer, simply raised his eyebrows and declined. He wouldn't want to 'drink his ass off' while on a deadly mission, like Gabriel had friskily said.

"Only a dumbass would do that," he scolded Gabriel, who hastily gulped down two bottles in fifteen minutes.

At midnight, Aidan, the good son, had already texted his parents to inform them that he and Gabriel wouldn't return home until morning – a bar night out. They'd been trudging on De Tham street for awhile now. Head aching and legs shaking, Gabriel discouragingly groaned and collapsed to the nearest chair. This was more troublesome than he'd initially thought.

Silence and darkness embraced the street. Their footsteps echoed on the rugged tiled pavement. At this period, most shops had already been closed and they couldn't blend in the crowd of pedestrians like earlier. Each time Y Lăng and H'Glen casually turned their heads around, Gabriel heart jumped to his throat and the two hugged the adjoining hiding place, squeezing themselves in.

Aidan poked his head out and muttered, "It's the 'Uncle'."

"The crime lord?"

"I don't know." Aidan's eyes glinted, somewhat dangerously.

The children gave the man all the money. Gabriel knew this was the time.

"We should call the cops." Gabriel began.

"Damn it!"

"What?"

"I parked my motorbike on Bui Vien. Near the bar just now. Wait here."

Then he sprinted into one of the alleys.

Gabriel was confused. Why does Aidan need his motorbike? He thought.

Unless the guy had another plan. A more thoughtful, yet potentially fatal plan.

Less than two minutes later, the children climbed onto the saddle, sitting neatly behind Mr. Crime Lord. The engine started and Gabriel began to panic. He ran after them. Running and hiding, if that was feasible. The motorbike turned left. Gabriel stopped right before he could fling himself out to the open two-way street. 

"Aidan, you knucklehead," Gabriel said, catching his breath. "Where are you?"

His cellphone rang. Right on time.

"Where are you?" Aidan screamed over the phone.

"I'm on Pham Ngu Lao street," Gabriel replied. "De Tham street, then go straight ahead and turn left."

About twenty seconds later, Aidan arrived and threw him the helmet. Gabriel hopped on and Aidan accelerated. His upgraded scooter sped up like a cheetah.

"I can still see them," Aidan said. "Okay. Let's do this!"

"Any particular plans?" Gabriel asked, as the two stopped at the red light.

"Of course. As long as we're safe. You're safe."

Aidan revved and the scooter sped up again. The scooter quickly turned left, then turned right and went straight forward, passing two crossroads, two forks, and one double-backs. Aidan watched the lazy traffic and the vehicles ahead, speeding up or slowing down his scooter accordingly.

They had been riding a long way, thirty minutes from the central districts, but Gabriel felt like it'd been forever. The chase was getting tiring. The streets names were completely alien to him. The roads became narrower and more deserted. There were sections with broken street lamps and buildings under construction and empty fields full of weeds.

They were reaching the suburb.

"Hey, buddy," Gabriel muttered. "Can we, like, turn around and call it a night? I-I don't think following them to the 'lair' is a good idea."

"Too late," Aidan said. A beat. "We've gone this far." Another beat. "Let's finish this off."

"What about, should I call 911, I mean, what's the number, 113?"

"Up to you."

Gabriel pulled out the phone and dialled. Before pressing the 'call' button, the motorbike in front had slowed down and stopped. Pulling over behind a bougainvillea hedge of a mansion, about eighty feet from the subject, Aidan shut down the engine. Gabriel handed him the phone while he was leaning over to take a look at the place.

It was just like the any street house he'd pictured, quite old, with two floors. All windows and doors were closed. There was only one room with lights on. After checking to ensure no one was around, Gabriel scratched the mosquito bites at the nape of his neck and slowly stepped out of their hiding place. He stood at the front gate and tried to read the blurry address.

The sound of footsteps from behind made Gabriel jerk. His heart pounded in a rampant rhythm. A hand placed on his shoulder.

"The police should be here any moment," Aidan said. He took multiple pictures of the place with his other hand. "What are we going to do next?" He tucked the phone in his pocket and pulled out a tiny notebook to scribble something down, like an amateur journalist. 

"I don't know," Gabriel shrugged. "Breaking into the house?"

"Let's sit here," Aidan said. "Wait for the police to–"

A shrill cry of a child inside the house, along with a slapping sound pierced through the quiet night and shook both of them to the cores. Gabriel recoiled. The rising sound of despair was like a punch to his gut. Gabriel instantly recognized the cry. It was Y Lăng's.

More shouting erupted. Standing closely behind Gabriel, Aidan flinched, shaking his head in horror and disgust. 

"Okay, that's it!" Aidan gritted his teeth. "You stay here. I'm breaking in."

Gabriel saw him balling his fists and standing up straight, like some kind of martial artist's instincts. The guy was holding tightly to one of the grids, as if he was about to 'parkour' the two-meter gate. Gabriel didn't doubt the guy's athletic ability. Not anymore.

"Dan, wait, you don't have to–"

"It's better this way. I can handle them myself–"

"The gate's not locked!"

"Oh."

Gabriel pushed it open with one hand. Aidan bashfully jumped down. Both ran into the front yard. At the second door, Aidan glanced at the loosed lock, pushed Gabriel aside and lowered his body to a fighting stance. Taking a deep breathe, he kicked open the door and stormed into the living room.

There was no one inside.

They listened to the shouting that had abruptly stopped. The "Uncle" stepped out from the back of the house, hand holding a machet, but he was instantly greeted with Aidan's fist. Oh boy, Aidan was furious! Gabriel could feel years of pent-up grudge radiating from his friend, like he was projecting how much he despised criminals whose offenses were committed against children. Aidan treated 'Uncle' like a sandbag – punching, kicking, elbow-hooking – as if he was the real street gangster and not the other way around.

Until two other accomplices appeared, with Y Lăng and H'Glen as their hostages. Two sharpened blood-stained knifes were pressed to their throats, and their faces were full of unshed tears. Gabriel knew that one flick of the wrist and they would be dead. Aidan stopped pummeling and looked up in revulsion. At the sight, Gabriel's body stiffened, his head and limbs began to convulse. The sick feeling in the pit of his stomach crawled its way out, now that the shock had passed and the terror had taken over his body. He slowly took three steps back and raised his arms in surrender.

However, Aidan refused to do the same. To Gabriel's consternation, he stepped up to block their escape route, accusing and threatening them in Vietnamese. Gabriel understood the word "police."

But Gabriel realized that he was much more concerned about the children's lives.

"Dan, if you don't step down, they'll kill 'em."

"I–"

"Aidan," Gabriel pressed. "Let them go!"

One of them let go of H'Glen, walked behind Gabriel and pressed the knife to his neck. That was the last straw for Aidan to surrender unconditionally. The children were released, and Aidan suffered the same fate with him. They were pushed out to the backyard.

And one thing he knew for certain: they were about to be murdered.

Aidan also realized this, because as soon as he set foot on the yard, he suddenly grabbed the knife-holding wrist with his bare hands, dropped down, slipped underneath and kicked the guy's groin. The knife dropped to the ground. Before the cold metal could slice through his neck, Gabriel copied Aidan's moves, though his amateurish skill was only able to let him barely escape.

Survival instincts kicking in, Gabriel saw Aidan, who was still beating the criminal, and shouted, "Run!"

Aidan quickly turned around and screamed "No!" before rushing in and stepping in front of Gabriel. His friend had taken a stab for him. While Gabriel was still frozen in shock, Aidan did an upper-cut and a hook to the culprit's jaw, knocking him down.

Then he cried out in pain and collapsed.

Blood started to sputter from the stomach wound.

"Damn it!" Aidan looked at his bloody hand. His breathing was rapid and shallow. "Call 115!"

Gabriel stared at the knife as tears crept to his eyes. His hands shakingly dialled the number and handed the phone to H'Glen, who had run out and witnessed the incident.

"I-I told you that you would be safe..." Aidan coughed out blood – blood that splattered on the dusty ground. He grabbed Gabriel's arm, squeezing it. "If I die, I'll die protecting you..."

"Don't! Don't say it! You'll be fine. The ambulance is coming," Gabriel said, choking back tears. He only dared to look at Aidan, who was about to close his eyes, and shouted in despair. "You asshole! You cannot die! You cannot die for me! Not on my watch. Promise me!"

"I...can't. I...this wound...I think it's fatal...I-I don't know if I can make it..."

Gabriel sobbed. He brought Aidan's head up, cupped his cheeks and prayed. "Please, God, please help us...We're doing a good deed...We can't end up like this..."

He heard the police siren off in the distance.

"Gabby," Aidan whispered.

"What?"

"If I die, it's not your fault. Tell my parents that for me. Tell them I love them, so much..."

"No, no, Aidan. Don't say that! Don't die!" Gabriel shook his head. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Gabriel's hugged Aidan tightly and cried until the ambulance arrived.

Aidan took his last breath on the way to the hospital.


	4. Chapter 4

The last time Gabriel saw the street siblings, he was on his way to the cemetery, holding a bouquet of flowers and two cans of Saigon beer. It'd been a month since his best friend died. It was raining, too. August rain was pouring relentlessly on his head. But Gabriel didn't care. In fact, he'd started to love the rain in Saigon, and loving it for Aidan's part.

Gabriel quietly stood in front of the grave and placed the bouquet down. White chrysanthemums, Aidan's favorite. The siblings did the same, each put a wreath on Aidan's grave and clasped their hands together. Finished praying, the three of them looked at each other, not knowing what say, but feeling the burst of heartache and agony and most of all, a sense of injustice. Gabriel bit his lips to fight back a sob. The pain was still too new, too fresh, though the case was officially over yesterday.

H'Glen and Y Lăng would return to Đăk Lăk tomorrow, and Gabriel would fly back to the U.S.

"Hi, Dan." After the children had hugged him tightly and said their farewell, Gabriel put the umbrella away and sat down. He cracked open a can of beer and gulped half of it in one turn. 

Aidan's portrait smiled at him, a faint smile, like every time Gabriel was about to do something stupid.

"How's it going?" Gabriel continued. "I'm doing fine, I guess. The trial yesterday was intense, and those bastards paid the price, but for me, nothing is enough, ya know. What's done is done. Sometimes, I think, if it wasn't for me who got us involved, you wouldn't be here. You said it wasn't my fault, well, you're wrong, Dan, it's all my fault." Gabriel took another sip of beer and clinked his can with Aidan's. "Your parents haven't forgiven me, not yet, but they still let me sleep on their couch. They don't blame me for your action, because they know, too well, that their son would do that. You care too much, Dan. You..."

He waited for Aidan's response. Nothing.

"Two days ago, I called my mom, told her what happened, then bawled like a baby. And you know what she said, Dan?"

Gabriel drank the rest of his beer. He absent-mindedly reached for the next can, but stopped himself. He pushed his curls up, so that they didn't stick to his forehead.

"Mom said, 'Mijo, a man with compassion like you would do exactly the same thing he did for you. Oh, God bless his kind soul.' She was right, of course, I'd do the same for you. And you know what, Dan? I forgot to say thank you. Thank you for saving my life."

Te quiero, hermano, he thought, tapping his fist to his heart. You always have my love and respect.

Rain in Saigon was still pouring heavily, but Gabriel sat there in silence for the next two hours.

How could he mind, if Aidan was right next to him?

 

The End


End file.
